Political News & Commentary

This evening Abby, our six year-old daughter, and I attended Ignition, the Bus Project's graduation ceremony for its Politicorps fellows and the christening of a new bus.

The old bus, purchased in 2002, was "born" the same year I was. While in the grand scheme of things 30 might not be so old for a person, it is for a bus - and it was having trouble bridging the rural-urban divide (otherwise known as crossing the mountains). Earlier this year at Rebooting Democracy the Bus Project had announced it was purchasing a new bus and auctioned off parts. At the time I made a $25 donation towards a part later to be determined.

The part ended up being a cylinder head, which is ironic since my very first car (a brand new 96 Saturn) had a cylinder head problem that caused numerous problems until it was fixed. Hope that doesn't mean I'm going to jinx the new bus.  ; )

Months have gone by since then, and the new bus has been purchased. It's even been used for a few canvasses. For instance, we had so many canvassers a few weeks ago for Nick Kahl and Greg Matthews that both buses came out to Gresham. We were all filled with laughs as we chanted "our bus is painted!" as people exited the new bus (to which Garrett responded "our bus is newer!").

I've been too busy with summer vacation, getting Abby ready for first grade, and getting everything together for my campaign for city council to write as often as I should. However, I wanted to do some quick hits on some items going on in the news that I find important.

With everything on the news about the Olympics, a lot of important stories are being buried in the press. I'll try to give an updated listing every few days. Here's today's listing:

I recently posted on my personal blog a commentary on a recent post at another local blog, LoadedOyrgun. Fomer senatorial candidate Steve Novick writes in support for allowing Senator Hillary Clinton's name in nomination at the upcoming Democratic National Convention. Please click here to read the post. My response from my blog is below.

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The story now is that Bruce Ivins, a researcher at the U. S. government’s Fort Detrick Laboratory, mailed the deadly letters. Then when the FBI closed in, he took his own life.

Victims, relatives of a victim, or simply American citizens, ought to have a few questions about this case:

·        If Ivins was a lone actor, how did such a dangerous psychopath get a security clearance to work with this deadly anthrax?

I learned more today about the Department of Health and Human Services' proposal on reproductive health and pregnancy prevention.

For a long time the accepted definition of an established pregnancy (both by medical experts and HHS) was after implantation of the embryo into the uterus. Without implantation, the egg (or embryo) would be flushed from the body during the woman's next period. And more importantly, a pregnancy test would not come up positive.

As if soaring gas and food prices isn't enough, we've just learned about another way Oregonians are going to be hit in the pocketbook - heating your homes this winter.

NW Natural and other natural gas companies offered projections to the Oregon Public Utility Commission today, and the numbers aren't good:

Northwest Natural says its 595,000 customers in Oregon can expect a rate increase between 35-40%. Cascade, which supplies 200,000 customers in eastern Oregon, says rates will go up 15-20%. Avista, the gas company for southern Oregon, is projecting a 10-15% increase.

PGE is also talking about 15% increases, on top of the increases we've already had over the past few years.

From our friends over at Brave New Films:

Joe Lieberman is a war hawk, plain and simple. He staunchly supports George Bush's War in Iraq and John McCain's plan to stay in Iraq for 100 years. But Lieberman's new alliance with the Republican Party runs even deeper. He has endorsed and stumped for McCain, wants to be the star of the Republican National Convention, and has even served on a 527 group that smeared Barack Obama with a nasty attack ad.

And yet Lieberman still holds a top rank within the Senate Democratic Caucus as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The Senate Democratic Steering Committee needs to know just how much of a conflict of interest this is. That's why we created Lieberman Must Go.

Watch the video: http://bravenewfilms.org/watch/4063829/43061?utm_source=rgemail